Rabbi Charles P. Sherman
Sarah Gordon Bat Mitzvah
June 8, 2002
Committees Don’t Just Produce Camels
As I’m sure you all have heard: a camel is a horse that was put together by a committee. In spite of the fact that, as anyone who has been to some committee meetings knows, "the time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to its importance," people still seem to want to serve on committees.
Some time ago, the City Commission of Miami, Florida, established a Municipal Beautification Committee. They appointed 25 members to the Committee. But word got around and it seems that everyone wanted to belong to that Committee. Request after request was granted until 131 citizens were appointed. Then the Committee held a meeting — 19 members showed up. So, committees often mess things up, and the enthusiasm which greets their announcement often peters out when the real work begins.
We are now at the beginning of a new Temple administration. President Burger is interested in having a healthy committee structure, and she has been working with committee chairs on appointments of members and figuring out what the work of the committee is to be during the coming year, their goals and priorities. I think we can glean considerable guidance in this effort from this week’s Torah portion.
In our sedra we read about a committee which was appointed for the crucial task of scouting out the land which the Israelites were about to enter. "God spoke to Moses saying: ‘Send men to scout the land of Canaan which I am giving to the Israelite People; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.’ So Moses, by God’s command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all the men being leaders of the Israelites, and these were their names . . ." (Numbers 14:1-4)
If committees are often flops, this one was just about the most colossal catastrophe of all time. For although there is little disagreement among the 12 spies as to what they have seen, their opinions as to what to do about it were diametrically opposed. Ten of the 12, the majority, report and say we cannot attack that people for it is stronger than we are. "The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers."
God is furious with their lack of faith and vision. "How long will this people spurn Me, how long will they have no faith in Me . . .?" God’s punishment is dire. "In this very wilderness shall your carcasses drop. Of all of you who were recorded in your various lists from the age of 20 years up . . . not one shall enter the land which I swore to settle you – save Caleb . . . and Joshua . . . Your children will roam the wilderness for 40 years, suffering for your faithlessness. . . You shall bear your punishment for 40 years corresponding to the number of days — 40 days — that you scouted the land: a year for each day. Thus you shall know what it means to thwart Me."
Why did this very important committee fail and how can our own Temple and community committees benefit from that experience? I believe we can learn at least three big lessons from today’s sedra.
Our text begins "send men to scout the land". Men — what about the women? In our society such a committee charter would exclude just about half the population. In a polygamist society like that of the ancient Israelites, there might well have been a far greater number of females than males. More than half the population was excluded from scouting the land. Now this is unfair not only from a quantitative point of view, but from a qualitative one as well. Women often bring a unique perspective to things. For example, a couple filling out the form for their marriage license came to the line which asks "number of this marriage?". The man wrote down "first"; the bride wrote "last."
Excluding women from the scouting party was the first step towards failure. We do not make that mistake at Temple Israel. Three of the six officers of our congregation today are female. Of our total Board, 40% is female. Women are fully included in all aspects of Temple Israel life, thank God.
The second charter instruction was to send one man from each of their ancestral tribes. Having recently escaped from bondage in Egypt, the people are on the brink of a great new future in the land God promised them. But are the scouts oriented toward this future? No. They are tied to a largely imagined past, filled with the presumed glory of ancestors in their tribal configurations. It is often self-defeating to harken back to past glories in this manner. Yet that is the way the spy committee was staffed.
In an Anthropology class, the teacher was groping for an example of how our ideas about beauty keep changing over the years. Finally he said: "Take the Miss America contest for example. Seventy years ago, the Miss America winner was only five feet tall, she weighed just over 100 pounds and her measurements were 30-25-32. How do you think she would be regarded by the judges in this year’s Miss America contest?’ One student replied, "Not very well." "And why not?" the teacher asked. The student responded: "Because she is too old!"
Facing the past and not the future was the spy committee’s second step toward failure. It is a challenge to every committee. Too often there will be people who say "we’ve always done it this way". Others will say "why change? It was good enough for our parents and our grandparents, why isn’t it good enough for us?". Still others will say: "Who knows, if we try that, if it really will be any better?" If you load a committee with people who cannot get past their past, then the future will always seem frightening and discouraging.
Lastly, with regard to the 12 scouts, our Torah text tells us explicitly that they were each one a chieftain. Oy! What a mistake. A committee with all chiefs and no Indians. Each one was a boss, expecting others to do the actual work; each one felt that his opinion was sacrosanct.
The late cartoonist Charles Shultz understood this sort of situation well. In a Charlie Brown cartoon strip, Charlie holds up his hands before his friend Lucy and says: "These are hands which may some day accomplish great things. These are hands which may some day do marvelous works. They may build mighty bridges or heal the sick or hit home runs or write soul-stirring novels. These are the hands which may someday change the course of destiny."
To which Lucy replies: "They’ve got jelly on them."
Some people are like the scouts, willing to see jelly on other people’s hands but not on their own. Their hands are clean and they are going to stay that way, thank you very much.
The spy committee was exclusionary, more oriented toward the past than the future, stressed ego over accomplishment. Ten of the scouts held on to a conservative outlook which resisted moving on to a new stage of existence; therefore, that committee failed miserably.
But if you think about it, whether or not the Israelites were going to invade was not open for discussion — it was a foregone conclusion. The only questions were when, where and how — not if. Yet it was precisely this that ten of the scouts argued against. What was Abraham’s dream, the basis for the entire mission of the Jewish People? Abraham taught the belief in one God and a homeland in which to practice that belief freely. It was precisely this vision which ten scouts declined to honor.
In other words, this committee had lost sight of their most important ideals. They were no longer, at least the majority, part of a people with a dream and a destiny. Now they were only members of a committee – exclusionary, past-oriented, and full of self-serving ego.
May each of us who serve on committees retain our ideals and our values, and may they determine the outcome of our work. If we do not, then we too will wander around until our carcasses drop from inertia, burn-out or cynicism. But if we keep our vision and mission always before us, we too may some day be able to enter a Promised Land. Kayn y’hi ratzon, may this be God’s will and our way. Amen
This message is based on the writings of Rabbi David Fass, to whom I am deeply indebted.
